No one is exempt as it sweeps in off the shores and into the countryside “laying its burden of death and pestilence.”1 For about 300 years prior to the beginning of the 1300s Europe prosperes freely, but a series of natural disasters occurres. Poor harvests andfamine are common and as the prosperous years come to a close, economies begin to fallin to a recession at the onset of the Black Death. Europe, on a whole, is about to take astep backward. There are plagues throughout recorded history, but none are of the magnitude norhave the far reaching effects that the Black Plague has. Its namesake comes fromsymptomatic hemorrhages that turned black.2 Though most people associate the BlackDeath with the middle ages, forms of the Bubonic Plague are recorded in China as earlyas 224 BC. The Black Death embarkes on a journey as an epidemic in the Gobi Desert inthe 1320s. By 1400, China's population of 125 million had is reduced to 90 million. Southwest Asia and Europe follow China with strikingly similar losses in their populationnumbers. In 1347, the Kipchaks who are nomads from the Euro-Asian Steppe, arethought to deliberately infect a European city with the disease. The Kipchaks would laidsiege to a Genoese trading post in Crimea. Hoping to weaken the defenders, they will usea catapult to launch infected corpses into the compound. Trading vessels from Crimeasubsequently will bring cargo infested with the disease burdened rodents and crew west. Starting in Sicily in 1347, it begins a four year reign of terror traveling as far asGreenland. During this four year period it is believed Europe lost one full third of itspopulation.3 The effects the Plague has on the economy and the laws governing the state aresevere. England is a perfect example. By 1349, the population becomes so severelydecreased that the commoner has the upper-hand on the land-lords. This is significant inthat they are now able to demand a higher w...
